Looking for good place to eat for Anniversary Michigan Ann Arbor/Novi area

[Foog]

Neither my wife or myself tend to like the really foofoo restaurants but we do enjoy good food. Price is not an issue. But we're looking for something a little laid back not dress up fancy. No kind of food is off limits. I've been reading other suggestions etc. I just wondered if anyone had a standout place they'd recommend.

Thank you,

Foog

[merkinmuncher]

I'm gonna try Cafe Habana this weekend. Hope it turns out well...

For pricey good food I suggest:

Eve: Interesting fusion, Noveau cuisine with Asian influences. I had some great mussels and duck there.

Pacific Rim- Asian fusion...seems to be mostly thai, japanese, and western mixes. Probably one of the more unique restaurants....

Bella Ciao-decent, but pretty average for the huge $$$ you lay down. They do pick good wine and I had some pretty good duck there.

ZIngermans: Hit or miss. $16 for mac n' cheese? Are you joking? But cabrito with collard greens was very good. A little too hyped up and overrated for me, but not horrible.

NOT logan. I had the oaxacan beef per the waitresses rec and thought it was horrible. Their entrees are seriously lacking in flavour, BUT they're pasta was quite good. A mixed bag for sure. The cheeseball maitre'd recommended some overpriced garbage red wine (to get rid of it), probably with the assumption that poor grad students don't know anything about wine. Bad assumption...

Cheap eats are what my budget likes. I especially recommend asian food:

Middle Eastern:
Jerusalem Garden (clean, huge portions, but no lamb)
Pita Kabob (cheap, greasy, decent, but not the most authentic)
La Shish-they're cheaper sandwiches are not great, but if you drop money it's pretty damn good. I had some lamb with mushrooms and it was good quality meat, good flavoured sauce.

Thai (probably the best kind of asian in A2):
Tuptim-pretty damn good, but overpriced. If it lacks flavour, get it HOT! Check out lunch specials
Siam Square-also good...different than Tuptim, better Tom Yum soup.

Chinese:
Tk Wu- Good value, friendly service, basic non-schezuan chinese food
Asian Legend- A little more variety than Tk Wu. Interesting, non-Americanized dishes
Great Lakes-More Hong Kong seafood type of food...not bad, but be careful what you order

Korean (i'm half korean so my standards are a little higher):
University Cafe-Decent cheap eats, esp. the yukejang.
Seoul Corner-Slightly more expensive and better. I liked the galbi here better than university cafe
Coffee Break-much like university cafe, but seems slightly worse, even though it's more popular
Bewon-Slightly more expensive than all three, but good ban-chan (free appetizers), chigae, and decent kalbi.
NOTE: Unlike other cities...A2 doesn't allow charcoal grilled korean BBQ which means it can never be the REAL thing.

Vietnamese:
Paradise: Most ppl come here for chinese, but it's the best Pho and vietnamese stuff I've had in A2. Definately some of the cheapest too. Won't beat a bigger city's Pho, but not bad.
Stay away from Miss Saigon...the waitress has a tendency to give back the wrong change (hint, hint) and doesn't like very sincere. Small portions too....

Pizza:
Silvio's: I'm addicted to this place since it has authentic pizzas and a lot of variety. Not thick crust...good cheese, non-sweet tomato sauce thin crust italian style. They're pasta is not bad either. Every other pizza i've had in A2 was awful in comparison.

I generally stay away from mexican and BBQ since I'm from texas (austin, east texas) originally. Taqueria La Fiesta is ok..but it's not spicy.

I've heard good things about Raja Rani's for Indian...

If anyone has any suggestions for Fine Dining and other asian food let me know....

[Elyssa]

How about Eve? I've eaten there a few times when visiting my bf in Ann Arbor and thought the food was outstanding. In my opinion its not too froofroo (maybe that's because I live in DC and Eve to me is very laid back), just a great neighborhood restaurant highlighting the best produce/fish etc that Michigan has to offer. Plus its nice for a special occassion type of dinner without being over the top.

[sharonmj]

Surprised no one mentioned Logan. Sent my sister there with a gift certificate. I "think" she liked it?!? Anyone been there before? I have been wanting to try it for awhile now...

[Foog]

Someone did mention it being the hot spot in A2 at this time. I will have to check it out.

Foog

[charlesbois]

Logan is not as "laid back" as the OP wanted. Although I've been there in jeans...but lack of a dress code does not a laid-back place make.

Logan is great, but the service is a little fussy and the atmosphere a little upscale, so I didn't recommend it to the OP.

I've posted reviews of Logan...but in threads on A2 restaurants, not one specific to Logan.

[Foog]

Charles is correct I wasn't looking for that atmosphere for that outing but I do plant to check out Logan.

[Foog]

BTW thanks to all that responded to my original question before the thread derailed a bit. We ended up at a place called Maisons in Novi. Very homey home cooking Italian place. I liked the nice small quiet atmosphere. The service was great. The food was good but a bit different than my tastes. The tomato sauce was a bit sweet and a little thicker than I prefer. But it was good. Still plan to check out the places suggested too.

Thanks,

Foog

[vintagediva]

Bonefish Grill in Novi is great. Their Tuna Sashimi app is out of this world; Mussels are always reliable and any of their fish.
The Novi location is really good but the Sterling Heights branch is spectacular because my son is the chef'

[beardofbees]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, this should keep me going for awhile!

[beardofbees]

I've spent most of my time living in San Francisco, Madison, and Chicago, with a little Milwaukee thrown in here and there. My main complain about AA is how horrible the restaurants are, that is, until the Common Grill in Chelsea was recommended to me. That place is really, really great. It could easily survive in the snotty, dog-eat-dog San Francisco market, where everyone and their grandmother (including me) has a food blog.

This Diamond Jim's place sounds interesting to me, thanks Boagman!

[boagman]

Oh, that's my pleasure, beardofbees. I'm sure that you'll find it well worth your time. Enjoy!

[beardofbees]

Hey, I just moved here myself, and have really exhausted the AA possibilities, but admittedly have not had the time to explore surrounding areas. Any other suggestions very welcome!!! I like all kinds of stuff. Foie gras AND dive bars...as long as it's not bland (lookin' at you Tuptim Thai curry tastin' like dirty dishwater mixed with coconut milk...)

[jerseyshore]

Sidetracks Ypsilanti/ great burgers and bar food + atmosphere
Miller's Bar-Dearborn/ JUST burgers and fries, very old school, but worth the experience( this place made GQ magazine)
Angelo's- A2/ best breakfast in the area.
Zingerman's Deli and Roadhouse/ both worth the extra cost
Monahan's Seafood- Kerrytown(A2) 4 tables for lunch, great oysters and fresh seafood.
Bastone- Royal Oak/ unique Belgian spot, great food reasonably priced
Cafe Habana- Royal Oak & A2 funky spot,not a bad take on Cuban.
Common grill- chelsea/ nuff said
Diamond Jim Brady's- Novi/ stick to dinner
Things are so bad, I've resorted to PF Chang's for Asian, Mitchell's Seafood, and Fleming's Steakhouse, all in Livonia, next to each other for consistent, kinda know what you're getting when you walk in.

[Foog]

Is the Cafe Habana in RO related to the A2 one or are they different? Work in RO so I've been to ever place in downtown RO (almost couple places aren't open for lunch). Tried Black Fin yesterday for lunch. Nice atmosphere be great to watch a game and have a beer but the food didn't impress me at all. The fries were Burger King fries. Why don't more places use real just cut potatoes for fries. They make the best fries.

Foog

[jerseyshore]

I took boagman's rec of Diamond Jim's awhile back, and it was exceptional. I could not agree with you more about the horrible restaurant scene in A2 or metro Detroit for that matter.I'm from the east coast originally, just outside of Manhattan, so, I may be a little spoiled. If you're not good there, you don't stay open long. I will say this about Diamond Jim's, great entrees for dinner service, however went for lunch to try their '"burgers that made us famous" and was really disappointed. Really mediocre burger and fries,and again I'm a little more particular than most, but, I guess that's why there's a board like this. If you're going to charge $10 bucks for a burger and fries I feel it should be better than average. This thing tasted no different than any burger purchased at any random coney island. So, in short , avoid the burgers and stick to the entrees and you'll have a good meal. Oh yeah, the dining room will remind you of a crazy aunt who won't throw anything away

[Summerfield]

Go to any one of the New York Metro boards. You'll find that there is plenty of bad food there from places that have some longetivity. Just sayin'...

[jerseyshore]

fair enough, I might just be a little homesick

[Summerfield]

Yeah, me too, sometimes. I'm from the other side of the Hudson from you (even though, technically, the Hudson doesn't actually flow down to the Jersey shore), right across from Tenafly. Incidentally, Tomatoes Apizza in Farmington Hills does a damn good New Haven style pie, and My Cousin's New York Pizza in Bloomfield Hills does a passable New York style pie.

[Foog]

A place I enjoy quite a bit in A2 is Madras Masala . The food is great service is friendly and good as well. The dining room needs overhauled though. The carpet is so old nothing short of replacing it will make it look clean. The bathroom scared me when I first started going but since has been redone and is quite nice. That's the only place I frequent anymore with regularity. Shalimar when it was one restaurant and not two was better but since the split into two we didn't enjoy it as much.

Foog

[Jim M]

One place that occurs to me is Bella Ciao in downtown Ann Arbor. The only thing that stops me is that I haven't been for a few years. But I used to go quite frequently, and I remember it as classy and laid back, with excellent forward-looking Italian food. The U-M often takes visiting people there, and it has that kind of vibe. I wouldn't go in there in jeans and a T-shirt, but it's definitely not high-fashion. Service is great. Has anyone been there lately? Nothing put me off on going there; I just used to hang out with a more academic crowd, and these days it just doesn't seem to come up as a possibility as often.

[charlesbois]

I went to Bella Ciao on my 16th bday, and 15 plus years later, the service and food have always been up and down. I was once served bacon wrapped shrimp that were raw, as in raw bacon and raw shrimp, which they took back and cooked, but didn't really seem to apologize for their error. But then again, I also have had there the best salad I've ever eaten.

I would definitely NOT call Bella Ciao a "laid back place". I think it's kinda uptight, actually. And FWIW, there's pretty much no place in Ann Arbor that I've been to that I couldn't go to in jeans, although admittedly, I haven't been to the chop house...they'd probably deny me entry on the basis of denim...

[boagman]

I don't think I can recommend anything more up your alley than Diamond Jim Brady's Bistro. Sounds like it would be *perfect* for you.

www.djbistro.com

[jerseyshore]

For your anniversary, I would drive a few miles further and go to The Common Grill in Chelsea.By far the best restaurant in the area. Cafe Habana is good, but perhaps a little too laid back. You can most definetly wear jeans to Common Grill and have a truly memorable meal. Google them and check out their menu.

[charlesbois]

Agree that Common Grill is excellent and jeans-friendly. the one thing I would caution for an anniversary dinner, is it can get unbelievably loud at the Common Grill. Whereas I think the food at CG more than makes up for the decibel level, you might prefer a slightly more intimate booth at Habana. Let us know if ya'll want more recs for the Habana menu, I've sampled a fair few dishes there...

[Summerfield]

Right now wife and I are really into Cafe Habana in Ann Arbor. The food is good, the prices are reasonable, and the place is certainly laid back, plus, as I've mentioned before, the mojitos are killer. And, I'm pretty sure the place is not "foofoo".

[charlesbois]

Cafe Habana is definitely not foofoo, more of a hipster joint. I really can't say enough good things about them, their food is great. Try shrimp skewers and a volcanic mojito. Their chimichurri steak is also very good and a large portion. A really fun place to go.

Prickly Pear on Main in Ann Arbor has good southwest food, interesting combinations of flavors and is not foofoo. Very laid back, you can dine out front or on the patio in back.

Ajishin in Novi has great sushi and Japanese, no foofoo-ness there.

The ultimate in non-foofoo is Knights in Ann Arbor. Smoky, wood paneled, vinyl booths, but the best steaks in A2.

[Foog]

Cafe Habana certainly comes up a lot I love Chimichurri as well so I am definitely thinking we might just go there. Ajishin I've seen and just not been inside yet (although from reviews I've read here I want to now).

Thank you for the suggestions!

Foog

[Summerfield]

Yeah, but no sauces for the steaks at Knights. I'm really into sauces right now. But yes, the steaks are great, if a bit, uh, large. And definitely non-foofoo. I'm going to try prime rib next time. Incidentally, would anyone actually admit to liking a "foofoo" place? It doesn't sound like something you'd want to admit to.

[Foog]

I do like them when the time is right. But we have the kids being watched by my father n law and get up really early in the morning so we really don't get to make a whole night of it. Best we could manage was eating out (means I don't have to cook for once lol). Thanks for all the suggestions everyone now I have to make a decision.

Foog

[Foog]

I love Mojitos and Cafe Habana is one of the few AA places we've yet to try.